The Brick City Kappa Literacy Language Leadership Program successfully executed its first grant from the Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation. With a second grant, the program has continued to unite English speaking, Creole speaking, and Spanish speaking families or individuals in a literature-based, progress-focused learning system leading to increased participation and satisfaction in the civic community. Unity is the purpose, and the outcome is a greater level of learning and leadership in the community provided by this group’s engagement in and understanding of a basic literary source created for their empowerment.

Brick City is the title of a young adult-level novel by the Newark Alumni Chapter, Immediate Past Reporter and Political Action Chairman E. Adam Jackson. Brick City is a well-known cultural symbol for Newark. We will extend Brick City culture to other inner cities that are inhabited by various ethnic communities, primarily African-American. In these areas, distinct and separate ethnicities currently exist as somewhat distant neighbors. They learn from literature that entertains and informs about our society, and Brick City represents a positive perspective of African-American culture to its readers.

Brick City is a bond that allows, indeed compels, not- unified community segments to come together and prosper by learning and teaching to each other from the same basic source, one that is distinctly African-American. The Creole speakers communicate in Spanish and English. The Spanish speakers talk in Creole. African-Americans and their neighbors become more fluent in each other’s languages.

The Brick City Kappa Literacy Leadership Program uses basic linguistics to move the groups into tri-lingual political discussion. They use their language skills in sharing about starting and running a business. By doing so, the program purpose is being met and outcomes empowered.

To our knowledge, there is currently no other English as a Second Language program in the area specifically aimed at unifying these groups.

The area continues to see ethnic tension which results in well-publicized violence among members of the different groups. This disharmony of ignorance negates real relief in the area for poor African-Americans, Haitians, and Latinos. While some fail to respect their neighbors, yet they have together suffered from inadequate school systems, closed and corrupt hospitals, and the lack of a mechanism to unite them for mutual relief through literacy and education to move the neighborhood foreword.

The Brick City Kappa Literacy Leadership Program strengthens literacy by practicing and improving the reading flow and diction of participants using a basic young adult-level text. The translation of this text by highly qualified instructors encourages a higher number of multilingual citizens and increase neighborliness among now-better readers, writers, and speakers of English.

Other agencies that provide support to Kappa Alpha Psi in this project include the Orange Public Library. The Brick City Kappa Literacy Leadership Program relies on highly qualified bilingual personnel to make sure that all information is accurately translated for all to read, write, and recite.

This program serves as a pilot for other communities through the soon-to-be published Web site that has already been created by this program. Lessons and other relevant documents will be available online so other Kappa chapters and can follow and use it to improve their communities.

Program Benefits

The Brick City Kappa Language, Literacy, and Leadership Program continues to:

1. Provide a vehicle to increase and improve the speaking, reading, and writing of English by speakers and non-speakers in New Jersey
2. Increase reading opportunities for families
3. Create a more unified community in Orange by promoting reading, dialogue, and togetherness
4. Create a distinctly educated and informed group of people who learn, practice, and speak to each other in multiple languages.
5. Motivate voter registration in party of their choice
6. Encourage voters to take part in elections
7. Identify, document, and share political issues important to community members
8. Address effects of prejudice and discrimination in conjunction with Brick City text to advance education, lessen the burden of government, and defend human and civil rights secured by law
9. Develop associations with other social service organizations
10. Connect with the local multi-ethnic business community through restaurants
11. Conduct economic workshops for local youth and encourage the formation of a Brick City business network
12. Place public announcements in a variety of media announcements to publicize this program sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.